Any time there is a crisis in Iran, the 1953 British-American coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh is dusted off as Exhibit A in the case against Western perfidy. It is rolled out to show how Washington and London strangled Iranian democracy in its crib, proving that foreign powers cannot be trusted and that the Islamic Republic is, at worst, a necessary evil. What is rarely recounted is the key role played in that coup by two leading ayatollahs—Abol-Qasem Kashani and Mohammad

Tag-uri: Islam